Knicks Deliver Magic Message For Playoffs

THE SPORTS COLUMN

March 31, 1997|By Larry Guest of The Sentinel Staff

Well . . . um, er . . . maybe meeting the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs is not such a good idea after all, Richie.

Although most fans and media appear to be licking their chops for a more-likely Orlando-Miami intrastate scrum in the first round, Magic interim coach Richie Adubato has been publicly wishing to open the post-season in Madison Square Garden, citing his Big Apple-area roots. But after the Knicks undressed the Magic, 101-86, Sunday in the O-rena, perhaps his players should just chip in and buy Richie a nostalgic tour of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.

That's 3-0 for the Knicks over Our Heroes this season, with one game left in Manhattan on Friday - not Thursday, as Richie mentioned in post-mortems. ''I'm confused,'' the genial Adubato smiled. ''I'm always confused after a game like this.''

Perhaps the bitter intensity of a best-of-5 scrum with Pat Riley's Miami Muggers doesn't seem as repugnant this morning. What about it, Richie? Atlanta or New York?

''That's a tough question to answer,'' said Adubato, who is required by three signs of the Zodiac, state and national laws and the Ten Commandments of Coaching to never, never, never admit you fear one opponent more than another. Under penalty of having Dennis Rodman on your team.

Penny Hardaway also assumed the doesn't-matter-who-we-meet stance after he had told teammates that he was taking responsibility for this loss because of his horrid 8-for-25 shooting Sunday. He also contributed a technical foul to the Magic's demise for wishing the refs something other than a happy Easter.

Adubato confirmed this was ''not a very happy Easter.''

It was certainly an enjoyable and memorable Easter for former Florida State Heisman quarterback Charlie Ward, despite hardly being a factor in his 11-minute stint off New York's bench. Saturday night, the second-year reserve guard had attended a hockey game for the first time in his life, watching a Solar Bears victory and afterward delivering his Christian witness to a spellbound church group of some 200 in one corner of the O-rena. United American Bank CEO Jimmy Hewitt, the former Magic managing partner and lifetime Seminole zealot, arranged both for Ward.

''The hockey game was exciting. As for the session afterward, I basically just told them my purpose in life is not to be a basketball player, but to witness to the Lord and influence kids in that direction,'' Ward explained softly in the Knicks' bathhouse. ''Easter is special, but then every day is special.''

You'll pardon Magic starters Horace Grant and Dennis Scott if they were struggling to find anything special about Sunday afternoon. Grant missed most of the second half, retiring to the team infirmary because of back spasms. No word on whether the treatment included a massage. With Grant out, Knicks water tower Patrick Ewing was too much for Rony Seikaly to handle alone, and Ewing finished with game highs in points (33) and rebounds (13) by wide margins.

Wide margins were what Patrick and the Knicks kept producing, opening a 22-point spread several times in the second half.

Scott may as well have taken the second half off, too, considering the kind of frustrating afternoon poor Dennis was having - four points, three boards, no assists or steals.

But one early play had served up a signal that it mattered not what any of the Orlandoans did on this day. A flicker before the first-quarter buzzer, Knicks guard Chris Childs, with his back to the basket, speared a long pass on the right sideline. In one motion, and with Magic guard Brian Shaw's hand in his face, Childs lifted off, twisting as he soared over the sideline and launched a prayer. The prayer was answered, drawing a gasp from the sellout crowd as it dropped through, nothing but net. The stunning 3-pointer pulled the high-fiving New Yorkers into a 23-all tie through one stanza.

When playfully asked how many hours a day he works on that shot, Childs just laughed and shook his head at the absurdity of what he had pulled off.

Hardaway said he thought at the time, ''if he makes that shot, it could be a long day.''